TT 2012: McGuinness Stays On Top On Tuesday Evening

John McGuinness set the fastest time for the second evening running but Tuesday's qualifying session saw his lead slashed by Cameron Donald. The Honda TT Legends rider outpaced Donald right at the end of Monday's action and repeated the trick 24 hours on, but his advantage at the top of the leaderboard had been reduced from sixteen seconds to just three.

Early on, the riders were unable to match McGuinness' Monday best as Guy Martin completed the mountain course at 127.115mph. McGuinness edged ahead of the Tyco Suzuki rider on his first run but it wasn't until the second attempts for all the riders that the times tumbled.

2012 Isle of Man: Tuesday Round-Up

Senior Classification (Top 3)

1

J.McGuinness

129.411mph

2

C.Donald

129.023mph

3

G.Martin

127.542mph

Superbike Classification (Top 3)

1

J.McGuinness

129.411mph

2

C.Donald

129.023mph

3

G.Martin

127.542mph

Superstock Classification (Top 3)

1

B.Anstey

126.075mph

2

W.Dunlop

125.189mph

3

D.Kneen

124.830mph

Supersport Classification (Top 3)

1

W.Dunlop

124.770mph

2

M.Dunlop

124.656mph

3

B.Anstey

123.488mph

Lightweight Classification (Top 3)

1

R.Farquhar

115.398mph

2

J.Hillier

113.190mph

3

M.Rutter

113.149mph

Sidecar Classification (Top 3)

1

Reeves/Sayle

112.808mph

2

Molyneux/Farrance

109.958mph

3

Harrison/Aylott

109.520mph

Martin moved back to the top with a 127.542mph lap but Cameron Donald blew it away with the fastest run of the week so far, getting round at 129.023mph. McGuinness was also on a flyer and the 40 year old went marginally quicker than Donald, lapping just 0.388mph faster over the 60.73km course. Martin slipped to third as a result but that represented a jump of four places from the previous day. Michael Rutter made an even bigger step forward, leaping from tenth to fourth, with Michael Dunlop just behind in fifth.

The superbikes shared the road with the Superstock machines and Bruce Anstey, despite losing ground in the former, moved to the top of the leaderboard in the latter. The New Zealander's 126.075mph lap was the fastest of the week so far in that class and with William Dunlop and Dan Kneen also improving, Monday pacesetter Simon Andrews had fallen to fourth overall.

The Supersport and Lightweight motorcycles were next on track and the Dunlop brothers dominated the 600cc class, William outpacing Michael to top the timesheets for the second day running. The Padgetts Hondas of Bruce Anstey and John McGuinness were third and fourth respectively.

The Lightweights were in action for the second time in this year's TT and as on Saturday, Ryan Farquhar was in dominant form. The Northern Irishman was the only man to break the 115mph barrier with no other rider even able to beat his day one time. James Hillier got the closest but his best effort was a full 23 seconds off the pace while Michael Rutter was a mere three tenths further back in third.

One of the big moves of the day came in the sidecar class as Tim Reeves and Dan Sayle overhauled Dave Molyneux and Patrick Farrance who had dominated the first two days. Reeves and Sayle, riding together for just the second time, improved to 112.808mph while their rivals were significantly slower than they were the day before. The riders only had time for one fast lap though after husband and wife pairing Robin and Annette Daykin crashed at Sarah's, bringing out the red flags.